What Was Earth Like in The Early Years of Human Life Pre Historic Humans Documentary

Each of us likely has their own ideas and interpretations of what the world might have looked like at the dawn of humanity. But some of them might look a bit like this. Dramatic landscapes, mostly void of human structures. Great beasts that roam the wilds. Nomadic bands of early humans settling down across the globe. This was in fact the reality. It was a sight to behold wherever you were in the world. As Homo sapiens began to spread out across the world towards the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, the world was in the clutches of the Ice Age. A time synonymous with frigid temperatures, megafaunal animals, and what the general public typically perceive as cavemen. In today's video, we will be taking a whistle-stop tour of the globe during the early years of humanity. Specifically, the years when Homo sapiens began to spread out across the continents. We will be focusing on a time roughly situated between 20,000 and 60,000 years ago, when members of our own species had begun to arrive in each and every corner of the world's continents. We will look at a general overview of what each continent looked like, whilst meeting some of the strange and often deadly residents that had evolved there before us. Sit back and relax as we take you on a tour across the world in the early years of humankind. As we start our journey across the vast open reaches and woodlands of Eurasia, it is impossible to ignore the Mammoth Steppe, a colossal expanse of grassland tundra spanning from Spain in the west to the far reaches of Russia in the east. This was planet Earth's largest ever continuous biome, dwarfing the Sahara Desert, the ice fields of Antarctica and the Amazon Rainforest. It was a cold, dry habitat, largely void of features. Grasses grew across the entire steppe, tough and plentiful, perfect for the region's numerous megafaunal herbivores to chew on. But we'll meet those later. Trees were sparse, with the exception of scattered spruce and birch forests towards the north, and vast hills and mountains dominated the horizon. Homo sapiens coexisted on the Mammoth Steppe with the famous Homo neanderthalensis, the Neanderthals, and Homo denisova, the Denisovans, of whom we know comparatively little. The Neanderthals in particular thrived on the Mammoth Steppe, with their tough bones and efficient resistance to the cold climate. But our Homo sapien ancestors managed to thrive here too, growing in large numbers off of the herds of their prey animals. Many groups of early humans would have settled in caves, or in crude structures built from logs and animal hides, wrapping themselves in the warm furs obtained from their successful hunts. On many instances, these human species met and even bred with one another, creating Neanderthal-modern human hybrids, which have led to the persistence of Neanderthal DNA in the Homo sapien genome to this day. Jewelry from humans, as well as their tools, have been found preserved, pretty much intact, in the Ural Mountains, whilst plenty of human skeletons and remains have been unearthed deep within the frost and ice. Our ancestors were evidently very tough individuals if they were able to brave the freezing temperatures of these tundra-covered mountain regions. While much of the Mammoth Steppe was dominated by vast herds of bison, horses, and caribou, it was also home to some of the planet's most spectacular extinct megafauna. The region got its namesake from the vast number of woolly mammoth remains that have been unearthed in the permafrost. These hairy relatives of modern elephants don't need much of an introduction, and have since their eventual extinction, gone down in history as one of the most iconic species of our world's past. A figurehead of times gone by. Alongside the mammoth herds, one might have been lucky to spot a woolly rhinoceros, while small groups of megaloceros, or Irish elk, would have rutted and displayed seasonally. European cave lions, a large muscular relative of modern-day big cats, would have hunted opportunistically along the tree lines and from the caves of the steppe, posing an ever-present threat to humans. Additionally, packs of wolves and the now extinct cave hyena would have patrolled the steppes, who we know came into direct conflict with our ancestors. Perhaps the most spectacular carnivore of the steppe was the cave bear. Ursus boleus, which despite being largely a vegetarian, would have been fiercely territorial for unwary bands of roving humans looking for shelter. Eurasia was also once home to various extinct species and subspecies of modern creatures. At one time, hippopotamus were even present in the region. Hippopotamus antiquus was present across Europe and Asia, including the British Isles, around the time the first humans were migrating outside of their African ancestral homeland. Ursus maritimus tyrannus, a subspecies of giant polar bear, existed to the frozen north, while steppe bison and aurochs, bison priscus and boss primigenius respectively, were two species of giant extinct bovids that roamed the wilds of Eurasia and were preyed upon by homo sapien pioneers. In addition to the aforementioned woolly rhinoceros, two other species roamed the Eurasian wilds in the late Pleistocene. The Stephanorhynus hamidicus, commonly known as the narrow-nosed rhinoceros, and Stephanorhynus kirchbergensis, commonly known as the forest rhinoceros. Due to climate change warming up Eurasia across the end of the Pleistocene epoch, the mammoth steppe is no longer in existence. However, it might not be lost forever. In the far northeastern reaches of Russia, just below the town of Chersky in Russia's Sakha Republic, lies a natural reserve which sits on the Kolyma River. Known as Pleistocene Park, this region, eight square miles in total, has been designated as an area to try and revive the mammoth steppe. Large herbivores, namely muskox, reindeer, moose, and bison, have been released alongside carnivores, such as brown bears, wolves, wolverines, and foxes, to begin to imitate the lost biome. With de-extinction a possibility on the horizon, perhaps eventually we could see mammoths and cave bears roaming Siberia once more. In the Pleistocene of Asia, the lands south of the expansive mammoth steppe would have been rich with life. The regions now composed of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and the surrounding areas were explosive with life. Packed with tropical forests, open woodland, grasslands, and marshes, as well as the mountainous regions of the mighty Himalayas. It was the forests, however, that made for the most tempting regions for human settlement. They were not, however, the first ones to reach them. You may have seen our earlier video on this species, but the most prominent creature known to Asia in the late Pleistocene was by far Gigantopithecus. This gigantic ape, the largest of all time, was a relative of modern-day orangutans, and weighed between 200 and 300 kilograms altogether. Despite the amount of attention it receives in the scientific world, we actually only know Gigantopithecus from a jawbone and its teeth. It is unlikely that this herbivorous ape would have posed much of a threat to our ancestors, so long as they kept their distance. Like some modern apes, it is possible that Gigantopithecus was fiercely territorial, and wouldn't have taken kindly to humans encroaching near its offspring or nests. Alongside the giant of the forests lived a plethora of other creatures that would have met our early ancestors. The panda ancestor, Aleropoda bacconi, the proboscidian stegodon, and the saber-toothed cat Megantorion. Alongside these would have lived a myriad of creatures that can still be found in the forests of Southeast Asia today. Monkeys, rhinoceroses, tropical birds, and tigers. Elsewhere, equally spectacular megafaunal creatures persisted. While it's more commonly associated with Western Asia and Eastern Europe, the giant rhinoceros Elasmotherium is known from sparse pockets in eastern China. Once nicknamed the Siberian unicorn, it has been unveiled in recent years that instead of possessing a massive conical horn made of keratin, this beast actually had a flat, domed ossification upon its nose, which may have been used as a tool to amplify its calls to other members of the same species. It is common knowledge that humanity found its footing in Africa's Rift Valley when the first hominids began to walk upright, a lifestyle more adapted to running through the grasslands than climbing through treetops. Much of Africa in the late Pleistocene, however, was rather similar to the general geography of the continent today. The colossal Sahara Desert wrapped around the continent to the north, whilst woodland and rainforest dominated across the south. Savannah grasslands, sparsely forested, was a key feature of the sub-Saharan regions as it is today, with many modern megafaunal creatures such as giraffes, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and elephants beginning to establish themselves across the land. The first Homo sapiens appeared in East Africa around 200,000 years ago, but scientists are in constant debate as to whether this is entirely accurate. An alternative theory explores how Homo sapiens' evolutionary features popped up in populations of ancestral hominids across the continent, converging to eventually produce a population of true Homo sapien people between 300,000 to 200,000 years ago in the Horn of Africa region, now containing nations such as Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The humans populating these early African forests and savannah grasslands would have been confronted with a wide open expanse of land rich for the taking, filled with large herds of antelope, bovines, and large mammals such as rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and elephants. More unconventional beasts roam these plains also, and unwary early humans could soon find themselves face-to-face with saber or scimitar-toothed cats. Homo therium and Dinophilus were efficient predators that would have caused humans consistent problems throughout their evolution and migration. Out on the plains, especially at night, they were an ever-present threat, the warnings of which were likely passed down in fearful whispers from generation to generation at the end of each day. Alongside these creatures would have lived swaths of extinct horses and swine, as well as the proboscideans such as Archidiscodon, a peculiar elephant relative found across the continent. Despite weighing more than twice that of any living elephant, this creature would have been a forest dweller, using its curved tusks to aid it in the search for plant-based food. Many recently extinct species roamed these grasslands too. The blue buck, Hippotragus leucophilus, was a species of antelope that lived in what is now South Africa until very recently, 1800 to be precise. When our early ancestors settled in the region, they would have been met with huge herds of these large horned ungulates, and likely hunted them. In addition to this, Sincerus antiquus would have been an impressive sight across the entire continent. Otherwise known as the African giant buffalo, this bovid's most striking feature was its horns. Given that the animal measured around 3 meters in length, the distance from the tip of one horn to the other could have been as large as 2.5 meters. Impressive, both for show and for weaponry. It's interesting to think how confrontations between Sincerus antiquus individuals and hunting parties of early humans would have played out. Today, Africa is one of the last strongholds of the megafauna. Modern day elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and buffaloes, as well as lions, all fall under the bracket. If we're not careful, these creatures too could go the way of the animals they once lived alongside. Between 60 and 75 thousand years ago, the first humans managed to find their way to Australia, the largest landmass by far on the continent of Oceania. They did this by finding their way through the islands now composing Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia, perhaps island hopping, or even using basic rafts or boats to reach this strange new land. It is also possible that land connections were created by falling sea levels, allowing humans to simply walk across to Australia before they were sealed up by the rising waves once more. The first humans that settled in Australia would have seen a landscape like no other on the planet. Isolated from the rest of the world, large Oceanian mammals were composed almost entirely of bizarre marsupials, peculiar pouched creatures very dissimilar to anything which had evolved in Southeast Asia. Before we meet some of them, however, let's take a look at the landscape of Late Pleistocene Australia. Seethingly warm in places, Australia in the Late Pleistocene was covered in scrubland and semi-desert, with the radiant red sands of the outback making themselves known across the central regions of the island. Tropical forests and temperate woodland lined the eastern coast, and sparse swaths of forest would have been present all across the relatively arid landscape to the extreme north and far south. Lush oceans covered every inch of the perimeter, brimming with some of the most biologically diverse hotspots in natural history. The fauna, specifically the megafauna, faced by ancient humans taking their first steps on Australia around 65,000 years ago, would have been astounding, and to see it firsthand is almost certainly a naturalist's dream. Outside of the mammoth steppe, this is one of the most notable and memorable biotas of the entire Cenozoic, and as we mentioned earlier, the island was very much under marsupial rule. The most famous of the marsupials inhabiting Pleistocene Australia was Procoptodon Goliath, otherwise known as the giant short-faced kangaroo. Standing at 2 meters in height, this was the largest kangaroo ever to exist, and due to its size and weight, it would have been slow-moving and very bulky. Instead of hopping like a modern kangaroo, using both feet at once, it would have actually walked with one foot in front of the other, much like the people it had begun to share the continent with. Another famous mega-marsupial was Diprotodon, a 4-meter long relative of the modern-day wombat. It roamed the subtropical forests that many early humans would have hunted in, and is depicted on many examples of early rock art from the time humans first arrived on Australia. Despite being completely unrelated, the megafaunal Diprotodon would have had a similar ecological impact on the environment as the large ungulates of the African plains do today. Other herbivorous creatures of the Australian Late Pleistocene include Pallorchestes, a bizarre trunked marsupial filling the ecological niche of a tapir, and Phascolarctos sturtoni, a large species of extinct koala. One of the most notorious Cenozoic carnivores also made its home in the arid forests of Pleistocene Australia, Thylacoleocarnifex, otherwise nicknamed the marsupial lion. Roughly the same weight as the modern African lionesses, this savage relative of living marsupials had the strongest bite force of any known mammal species ever. It would have been a formidable adversary for any nomadic groups of humans wandering through its territory, and was potentially responsible for numerous early human deaths. Given that one of its favorite foods was the massive Diprotodon, it goes without saying that these apex predators could have capably brought down human settlers with ease. As it goes with modern day Australia, it wasn't just the mammals that were capable of causing death and injury in the Late Pleistocene Epoch. You may have heard of Varanus priscus by its common name Megalania, one of the top predators inhabiting Australia in the Pleistocene up until about 40,000 years ago. This gigantic monitor lizard was around two to three times the size of a modern Komodo dragon, a close living relative. It is the largest terrestrial lizard ever to exist, bringing down both humans and megafaunal marsupials with ease. It was perhaps the most feared creature of the open woodland and semi-deserts of the time. Alongside it roamed Quincana, a fast-moving long-legged terrestrial crocodile that went extinct around the same time as Megalania. This reptile was capable of great speeds, and its powerful jaws ensnared prey with relative ease. Less harmless was the heavily armored Myolania, a huge two and a half meter long turtle with bull-like horns and a thick, scaled tail. This creature was native across Oceania, from Australia to the tropical islands of Vanuatu and Fiji, as well as New Caledonia. The most notable bird species from the biota was Janiornus, who standing at over two meters in height was bizarrely a distant relative of ducks and game birds. Of course, alongside all of these monster marsupials and giant reptiles were most of the dangerous creatures known to Australia today. Kangaroos, cassowaries, venomous snakes, and arthropods all made their home down under in the Pleistocene too. Equally striking was the moment humans discovered New Zealand. Although this didn't happen until around 1200 A.D., these islands were, with the exception of bats, entirely populated by birds. Everything from the vast collection of now extinct songbirds, to the strange flightless kiwis, to the colossal moas, and the hast's eagles that preyed upon them were bizarre new sights at the time and persisted on those islands long before humans ever reached them. Around 13,000 years ago, members of the species Homo sapiens first found their way into North America. They did this by traveling across a now non-existent land bridge that connected the far eastern reaches of Siberia to the far western reaches of Alaska. This area of the world is now known as the Bering Strait, and like the route into Oceania, was a gateway for our ancestors to experience a whole new wonderful world of Pleistocene madness. The first humans to pass over from Asia to North America were known as Clovis people, and evidence of their survival in ancient North America has been discovered in the bones of megafaunal herbivores from the region. Cut marks that could only have been made by human knives and weapons were present on some of the large herbivore bones discovered in 1908, as well as some spear points and arrowheads. The first thing humans crossing over from Siberia to Alaska would have experienced is the harsh landscape. Jagged glaciers, frozen ice sheets, and treacherous mountain passages would have proven difficult terrain for even the hardiest of peoples. But our ancestors overcame them, making their way south to the plains and woodlands of what is now Canada and the United States. Once these early humans had settled into the Americas, eventually finding their way into South America via Mexico and Central America, they were trapped as the land bridge sealed up, and the Americas became isolated from what would come to be known to European settlers as the Old World. Much of the Americas were, in these early years, similar to today. The frozen north provided a haven for large animals, and as the temperatures warmed towards the south, the landscape became scattered with taiga, plains, grasslands, forests, and even swamps to the east coast in what is now Florida and the Carolinas. The tropical islands of the Caribbean were scattered between two major landmasses. And rainforest conditions were present from Mexico downwards, covering much of what is now Brazil in the Amazon rainforest. Further south still were huge swaths of sparsely wooded pompous grassland, perfect for harboring some of the most bizarre creatures the world has ever seen. While the mighty Andes Mountains stood tall amongst Patagonia to the west, it was a haven, and the people of the Americas thrived. The Americas are also famous for some of the most spectacular fauna of all of the Cenozoic, and bizarre creatures could be found both in the north and the south. The two continents began to exchange their fauna when the Central American land bridge opened up around 3 million years ago, and the entire region became filled with a series of bizarre creatures now lost to extinction. North America's answer to the mammoths of Eurasia were the mastodons, bizarre relatives of the covered in hair, whilst possessing straight sloping skulls and incredibly long tusks. Our ancestors came into direct competition with these proboscideans, which would have provided a bountiful feast, should the hunting party be able to bring one down. Between their thunderous footsteps would have ran horses, wild relatives of the ones European settlers would one day bring with them to the Americas. Camels were present here too, but not in their modern capacity. The seven foot tall camelops inhabited dry grasslands, where its long neck could aid it in keeping an eye out for approaching danger. The most spectacular animals of the Americas were the Xenarthryms, giant relatives of modern day sloths, anteaters and armadillos. Giant ground sloths such as Megatherium and Oramotherium hulked across the plains, while the colossal armadillo relatives, the glyptodons, wandered around like impermeable biological fortresses with their thick shell armor. Down in South America, endemic groups such as the litopterns, large camel-like herbivores, and notoungulates, which resemble hippos and rhinos, were common. The carnivoran stock of the Americas was comprised of dire wolves and short-faced bears, who were both more than capable of bringing down an unwary early human or two. One of the most iconic creatures of all of prehistory, Smilodon would have encountered groups of early humans also. This robust, speedy big cat is most famously known for its long, saber teeth, used for slashing the breathing apparatus of large herbivores. Not a creature to be messed with. So there you have it, a brief glimpse into what planet Earth was like in the early years of the dawn of humanity. Our ancestors met some truly spectacular creatures. From the iconic megafauna of the Eurasian mammoth steppe, to the deadly reptiles of Australia's semi-desert. For a multitude of reasons, some of them attributable to our ancestors, these creatures, and in places their biomes, are no longer with us. However, who knows what the future has in store for these animals? Is extinction really forever? Is it possible that at some point in the near future, we could see cloned woolly mammoths roaming in family groups across Siberia's Pleistocene Park? Only time will tell.